Aircraft pilots must assimilate and prioritize a large amount of information being presented to them during flight. A pilot may be presented with many types of information such as navigational information, information about the aircraft, threat information about any potential threats to the aircraft, mission status information, and many other types of information. The information may be presented using one or more types of interfaces such as audio interfaces and/or visual interfaces such that information may be presented using audio cues and/or visual cues.
It is challenging for a pilot of any aircraft to process all the information presented to the pilot, let alone to process the information while performing other tasks such as controlling the aircraft and/or communicating with one or more other parties (e.g., mission control). As a result, pilots are often inundated with information being presented to them and are unable to adequately process it. In turn, this leads to pilot confusion and delays the pilot in making important and/or time-sensitive decisions.
One conventional approach for addressing this problem of information-overload has been to present pilots with information by using other types of interfaces instead of or addition to using audio and/or visual interfaces. Some techniques involve relying on a pilot's sense of touch to present him with information. To this end, a pilot may be outfitted to wear one or more devices, referred to as “tactors,” that are configured to tactually stimulate the pilot to present him with information such as navigational information. The tactors may be provided as part of any suitable wearable article such as a pilot's suit, a vest, gloves, etc. For example, a pilot may be provided with gloves containing tactors. The tactors in the glove may stimulate the outside of the pilot's right hand to indicate that the pilot should move the hand to the left and may stimulate the inside of the right hand may indicate the pilot should move the hand to the right. The tactors in the glove may stimulate the top/bottom of the pilot's wrist to indicate that the pilot should move the stick forward/aft. The left glove's top and bottom tactors can stimulate the pilot's hand to indicate that the pilot should move the power control up/down or forward/backward.